Fifty Shots Through The Heart
by WingsOfMorphius
Summary: Prompt #8- Whiskey and Rum "Next time I see Juliet, she's a dead woman."


**WoM-** _Found this somewhere else and decided to try my hand at it with Mamo-chan and Haruka, since the UDDUP fandom is in dire need of more lovin'. There'll be fifty of these propmts when I'm done, and I'll upload them ten at a time. And I know technically these are supposed to be sentences, not mini stories, but I figure I'd cheat because I wanted to, and no one probably cares all that much. And, as much as it may surprise some of you, I'm afraid that I don't own any of the characters mentioned here. 'note heavy sarcasm'_

* * *

**Fifty Shots Through The Heart**

* * *

**#01 - Walking:**

For as long as he could remember, Mamoru had walked alone. That was how he preferred it. No friends. No family. No distractions.

Then one day, a twelve year old girl came charging out of nowhere demanding that he save her from her kidnappers. After that, Mamoru quickly grew accustomed to her presence, the sound of her footfall, the scent of the soap that she used… Sooner then he'd like to admit it became almost therapeutic for him to know that she was there. Honestly, he should probably be more concerned about that feeling, but since it was 'until death do us part' anyways, he didn't see why he should bother to care.

* * *

**#02 - Waltz:**

"I thought you couldn't dance?" The question would have been more accusing, if it wasn't for the amused smile playing at her lips as he lead her through the steps.

"Don't." Mamoru corrected firmly. "I _don't_ dance. Never said I couldn't." Haruka couldn't help but roll her eyes as her partner twirled her around before leading her back into the dance.

"Right." She said dryly in return. "Of _course_ you don't."

"Che. Smartass."

* * *

**#03 - Wishes:**

Haruka was five years old when she met her first best friend, and all she wanted was for that day to last forever and ever, even though she already knew that the girl would move when they were eight, though her new friend didn't know that herself just yet.

When Haruka was nine, her friends started avoiding her, isolating the girl. They had realized by then that there was something different about her, that she knew things no human being should know, and they feared her powers. Crying into her pillow that night, Haruka begged the gods to take away her ability to see the future, so that just once she could know what it was like to be normal.

At eleven, Haruka lost her parents, her home and her life as she knew it in one fell swoop. At that time, her only wish was that she could have been stronger, to save her parents from their fate. Knowing what her cowardice had cost her shook the girl to the core, so she pushed it to the back of her mind whenever she could, instead focusing on survival in the dangerous world she had been thrust into at such a young age. Still, she couldn't hide forever, and every night the girl would be forced to confront her demons again and again.

By sixteen Haruka found herself feeling a little less broken then she had been as a child. Among the Elements Network, she had found a sort of makeshift family, one who wasn't fearful and repulsed by her ability to see the future, but didn't treat her like some sort of tool they could sharpen and wield as they pleased, either. In Mamoru, she found acceptance of her flaws, her mistakes and uncertainties that she could never really have before. He had done the most to heal her, had given her hope where there had been none before, and she tried her damnest to return the favor. Every day, Haruka would pray for the strength to protect these people, this strange group of mismatched vigilantes that were trying so hard to make the world a better place, so that their pain wasn't felt by others. More then that though, every day Haruka worked her best to make her own wish come true.

If life with Mamoru had taught her anything, it was that the future had to be created with your own two hands, and Haruka had taken that lesson to heart.

* * *

**#04 - Wonder:**

The destruction caused from Mamoru and Dai's constant fighting never failed to exasperate Haruka, who usually had to clean up after the two of them, but this one really took the cake. And although she knew both of them had abilities most wouldn't dream of, even she had to wonder…

"How on earth did you two manage to put the TV through the living room ceiling?"

* * *

**#05 - Worry:**

"Where the hell is Haruka getting all these short skirts from?" Mamoru asked irritably as he watched several heads turn to follow the girl as she made her way to the counter.

"Juliet, I think." Igawa answered, not looking up from his laptop. "She gave Haruka some of her hand-me-downs a while back."

"Hmph." Mamoru grunted, glaring at his charge's back impatiently, hoping that his irritation would help get the girl back to their table and away from the lewd vultures (Better known as teenage boys) that were so clearly eyeballing her. Suddenly, Mamoru wished Haruka was twelve again. They never had this problem before she hit puberty…

Just then, one boy got brave enough to approach Haruka and boldly wrap his arm around her shoulders as he leaned in to say something to her. Scowling darkly, Mamoru stood up.

"Going somewhere?" Igawa asked absently.

"Yeah. I got a murder I need to commit."

"Great. Bring me back a refill, will ya?" Igawa responded, giving his empty coffee cup a shake. Grunting noncommittally in response, Mamoru gripped his cane tightly as he made his way to the counter to cause a scene.

* * *

**#06 - Whimsy:**

Blinking, Haruka gaped at the sight before her, mildly concerned at where her dreams had taken her tonight. Mamoru, decked out in a Mad Hatter ensemble, didn't pay the girl's shock any heed as he continued to bicker with Igawa, who's rabbit ears flopped with every motion he made. Glancing down and finally noticing her own powder blue dress and frilly white apron, Haruka could only manage to say one thing;

"…This is the last time I eat anything Dai-san cooks. _Ever._"

* * *

**#07 - Waste/Wasteland:**

Mamoru looked grimly out at the scarred terrain in front of him, ignoring the alarms blaring in the building he had just emerged from, heralding the daring escape he had just made. His efforts may as well have been moot now though, with his sword's blade dulled during his rescue mission and the mass of armed men that were now following them added to the fact that there was nowhere to hide in the barren land before him. Still, as the small girl he was carrying piggyback (drugged, but otherwise fine, much to the samurai's relief) shivered slightly in the frigid desert night, the blind swordsman took off running, determined to make it even with the hounds of hell snapping at his heels.

He may not be anyone's idea of a hero, but Mamoru would be damned if he let Haruka die in this shithole.

* * *

**#08 - Whiskey and Rum:**

"Dammit, Haruka, would you hold still?" A feminine giggle answered Mamoru's bitter question, prompting Igawa to pause from his work on the computer updating the swordsman's glasses to watch with a raised eyebrow as Mamoru finally got impatient with fumbling with the keys and trying to keep his charge from hurting herself at the same time and simply kicked the door down, earning a flinch from the technician. Why did he always get the violent ones, anyways?

Igawa's mental lament was cut short when he finally got a good look at the teen Mamoru was bodily dragging into their den, alarmed at what he saw. Flushed cheeks, a glazed look in her eyes, unsteady balance…

"Wait… don't tell me… is Haruka _drunk_?" Igawa sputtered, shocked. Even if Mamoru had all the ethics of a rattlesnake, Igawa still couldn't believe that the man would allow the girl to get wasted like this. Not to mention that under aged drinking seemed like something totally uncharacteristic of the normally reserved and intelligent precognitive girl to partake in. Glancing back at Mamoru for an explanation, it took all of Igawa's self control not to hide under his computer desk at the sheer murder in the swordsman's expression. And, before Igawa could even muster up the courage to ask, the blind man summed up the answer to all of Igawa's questions with just one sentence;

"Next time I see Juliet, she's a dead woman."

* * *

**#09 - War:**

When Haruka was fifteen, she killed a man.

_Technically_, this wasn't true. The latest would-be assassin that was trying to kill Mamoru and kidnap her hadn't actually died by her hands, but had rather suffered an unfortunate accident after he had decided to try and use the precog as a human shield against her bodyguard. Haruka had struggled to get away when the man grabbed her, and sent the man off-balance over the edge of the apartment complex roof that had transformed into their battleground. Mamoru managed to grab Haruka before she could follow the man's fate, but even his speed couldn't save the assassin from his plummet to the earth.

The Element's Network didn't bother to punish Haruka for the accident, since the situation was so unfavorable, and no one blamed her for the man's death.

Except for herself, anyways.

Curled up into a ball with her knees hugged to her chest, Haruka kept replaying the gruesome scene in her mind over and over again, and each time bile rose to her throat in disgust of the fact that she had taken a life. She was, in her own mind at least, a murderer.

_If I hadn't panicked… If I could have seen what was coming…_ Drawing her knees closer, Haruka tried to make herself as small as possible, to escape from this awful, gut-wrenching guilt…

Just then, a hand clasped firmly down on the precog's shoulder.

"Stop that." Startled at the curt order, Haruka looked up, focusing her teary eyes on the firm, unforgiving features of the blind samurai.

"Mamoru-san…?" She questioned softly, not understanding what he meant.

"Stop wallowing over shit that's said and done." Mamoru snapped. "If you can't learn to move on from something like this, then it'll define you, change who you are. If that happens, then everyone else around here will probably never forgive themselves. God knows they're already beating themselves up enough for getting you involved in this life in the first place." Understanding slowly overtook Haruka's confusion, filling her with a number of emotions. Choking back tears, the blonde girl gripped her bodyguard's shirt tightly as Mamoru gave a heavy sigh. "Learn from the past Haruka, but don't live in it. Understand?"

Mamoru took the bawling sob Haruka gave as she buried her face into his shirt as a sign that yes, she did understand.

* * *

**#10 - Weddings:**

"Oh I don't believe this!" Haruka huffed, giving the man she'd just exchanged vows with a dirty look when he chuckled at her exclamation, while never taking his eyes off of the armed men Turus had swarming the building.

"You would think that even criminals would have reservations about spilling blood in a church." Mamoru said conversationally to his wife as he unsheathed his katana while the wedding guests with combat training moved to help.

"I just wish they could have waited until after the reception." The bride lamented as she hiked up her dress to retrieve the gun she had tucked in her halter. "We have to be on the plane in half an hour, and I am not missing my honeymoon over something like this!"

Neither newlyweds noticed when their priest fainted dead away behind them.

* * *

**WoM-**_Well, there's the first ten! And I know that the last one doesn't exactly fit with what we saw in the Bride special chapter, but this is my reality, so there! 'sticks out her tongue.' And, with that said, please leave me with your thoughts in the form of a review and wait paitently for the next ten prompts!_

_...Please? 'crickets chirp'_


End file.
